August 2007 posts

I love this piece of commentary on GWB. After the Bush Library reportedly backed out of a portrait they had commissioned from British artist Jonathan Yeo, the artist went ahead with it anyways. The portrait is a collage made from the fragments of a hundred porn magazines. I am not sure whether the Bushes backed out because of the pornography or because the painting is a metaphorical comment on what Dubya has done to our country. It's currently on display at London's Lazarides Gallery in Soho. via Towleroad.

A new law banning all billboards, posters, and advertisements took effect at the beginning of 2007 in Sao Paulo, Brazil in an effort to clean up the urban environment. It has, of course, made a drastic impact on the cityscape. Makes me wonder what some of America's large cities would look like without ads. Perhaps it may stimulate the creation of more public art. Check out the pictures by photographer Tony de Marcom who documented the tearing down process at Ping Mag and de Marco's Flikr site "Sao Paulo No Logo."

Sounds too good to be true? Probably. Would you be the proudest geek on the block if you had one in your room? Most definitely. In reading the details of this self-proclaimed waterless washing machine, it appears that it does more deodorizing than actual stain removal. Designed by students Gabriel Tan and Wendy Chua the concept machine uses a HEPA filter, ionizing filter, and pressured air jets to "clean" your clothes. I'll believe it when I see it get out the ketchup and soy sauce stains I get after my weekly dim sum fests. Via Inhabitat.

The Bugatti Veyron is an incredible car - and surprisingly smaller than I thought it would be when I saw one in Spain. So how do you build a 1,001 horse power automobile that burns 1.33 gallons of gasoline per minute, and requires 45,000 liters of air in the process? How Stuff Works has an article that dissects the Veyron into its mechanical bits. And if you haven't seen it yet, check out this video of Top Gear's James May take the Veyron to its top speed of 253mph.

Four gold-colored frogs were found by children in a grassy field in the town of Shimanto in Kochi prefecture, Japan. Scientists say they appear to be local black-spotted frogs that have mutations in their DNA that controls pigmentation. It's unsure whether this is an isolated incident, or consequence of a larger issue of environmental concern. Therefore, they would be considered albinos. Full story via Pink Tentacle.

I've become addicted to these short Weekend DIY videos from Makezine.com. Watch as Bre Pettis makes a silver ring out of an old half-dollar coin, as well a cool messenger bag from ho-hum plastic bags lying around the house! Check out more projects at their YouTube site.

Has anyone else had problems with their iPhone overheating? After charging my iPhone overnight, as usual, I woke up today to find my phone unresponsive and moderately warm (not hot enough to cause a burn). I could not turn it on until after I did a reset by holding down the power and home buttons. This is the second occurrence of this problem. Prior to this I had some difficulty charging the phone. At times I was only able to charge it while connected to my computer via USB. As it turned out it was a faulty AC adaptor, so I was given a new one. Today, the Apple Care representative told me it may be a battery issue or a defect in manufacturing of the connecting pins - on the phone itself or the connector (?) I'm not sure. But, he did say that in the past couple of weeks this particular problem has been remedied on all new iPhones.

Hyposurface is a wall that physically moves. Combining hundreds of mechanical pistons under a fabric and plastic surface, almost any design can be displayed by raising and lowering the pistons. Patterns can be programmed to sync up with a variety of input - sound, movement, even an internet feed. More about Hyposurface and its designer Mark Goulthrope can be found at Hyposurface.org. [Thanks to Philip Foeckler]

Designer Tobias Wong's Sun Jar is a whimsical and charming piece of work. Solar panels and a rechargeable battery stores energy to power an amber-glowing bulb that lights up when it gets dark. (Check out the schematic below.) Get it here at Charles & Marie.